Laurier football weekly update

A full team effort was needed to beat Queen’s at their Homecoming and that is exactly what happened. It was a game filled with big, exciting plays and we made them in all three phases of the game to win 49-26. The win puts us in the playoffs and creates a re-match from a week ago, as we will travel to Hamilton to take on McMaster this Saturday (October 31st) at 1pm.

McMaster is a well-coached football team that beat us 30-21 on October 17th, but we have definitely learned a lot from that game and will be ready to execute on Saturday. We are a team that is peaking at the right time. Last year we started the season 4-1 and lost our final three games and really backed into the playoffs.

This year has a completely different feel. After the devastating loss to Windsor at Homecoming dropped our record to 1-3, we dug a little deeper, worked a little harder and are now starting to hit our stride. We have gained momentum the second half of the year and have gone 3-1 over that period, outscoring our opponents 177 to 86 over those games.

Offence – A great job by our offensive line upfront and our tight ends and full backs as they cleared the way for our rushers. We had a two headed monster in the backfield against Queen’s as both running backs Dillon Campbell and Eric Guiltinan rushed for over 100 yards.

Dillon had 28 carries for 137 yards, while Eric had an impressive 13 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns. WR Daniel Bennett also scored a nice touchdown on an 18 yard pass from QB Eric Morelli in the third quarter.

Defence – Our very opportunistic defense struck again at Queen’s Homecoming scoring two TD’s in the first half.

The first came after the Queen’s QB got sacked and stripped by LB Matt Williams and defensive lineman Rashari Henry scooped it up and took it back 38 yards for the touchdown. Then late in the second quarter DE Kwaku Boateng hit the Queen’s QB and the ball popped right up to defensive linemen Asante Mizan’s hands and he rumbled 30 yards for the touchdown.

Many other standout performances as DB Austin Reusch had an interception, LB Matt Williams had two sacks, DL Kwaku Boateng had a sack and LB Brandon Calver had 10 tackles and a sack.

Special Teams – It was a very windy day in Kingston and it was our only game on a natural grass surface, but this didn’t affect Kicker Nathan Mesher who was 4/5 on field goals (25, 15, 14 and 32). He was really 4/4 because the other attempt we told him to angle to the side and we treated it like a punt.

In the return game, Carson Ouellette had an outstanding third quarter setting up two offensive touchdowns. Carson had a 58 yard kick return and a 57 yard punt return that the referee called him out at the two yard line, but after reviewing the film he really scored a touchdown.

Here’s what is happening:2015 OUA & CIS Leading Rusher – Dillon Campbell (1,115 yards)
For each of the three years that Dillon Campbell has been our starting running back, he has led the whole OUA in rushing yards.

For the second year in a row, it also looks like he will end up leading the entire CIS in rushing yards. We just have to wait a week as the other conferences are still in regular season play … but Dillon has a commanding lead.

Dillon’s name is all over the record books (and rightfully so), but this is a whole team accomplishment and the offensive line has done a fantastic job paving the way for Dillon.

Players of the Week Lunch
Please join us at the Hawks Nest this Thursday for lunch at 12pm. For just $15 enjoy: great food, highlight video, players of the week honoured, prizes, coaches update and more.

Adopt-A-Hawk – $28,261 and counting
Thank you to all that have helped us with this AAH campaign; your support is greatly appreciated. For those of you still interested in supporting us, we still have some players that haven’t been adopted and we can give you their name and position.